Local artist Abiyah — a poet, Hip Hop MC
and Reggae DJ with Queen City Imperial SoundSystem — is stepping up her
“promoter” persona with a new monthly Hip Hop night at Northside’s The
Comet. After presenting shows in other local venues by various touring
Indie Hip Hop artists, this Wednesday sees the launch of “Abiyah
Presents Hip Hop @ The Comet.” The series will run every third Wednesday
of the month at 10 p.m. and admission is free.

According to the press release, “Each
month’s curated event will feature a different theme, and performances
by three to four acts/solo artists, in order to showcase the diverse
range of talent and styles in the Cincinnati Hip Hop community, as well
as to bridge race and gender gaps.”

The first “Abiyah Presents” night this Wednesday is
being dubbed the “Classic Edition” and will feature several veteran
artists who’ve help build the local Hip Hop scene. Joining Abiyah on the
bill is KyleDavid (of Five Deez), CITOAK (Watusi Tribe) and King
Solomonic (WannaBattle Elite), with DJ Bizzy Bizz spinning between sets.

• Like Def Leppard and Hootie, veteran
Cincinnati singer/songwriter Maurice Mattei and his Rock band The
Tempers have gone Country. (Mercifully, the results are much better.)
The Tempers’ C&W album, Darker Angels (subtitled, “The
Country and Western Music of Maurice Mattei and The Tempers” and tagged
“The Sam Quentin Series Vol. 1”), amps up the twang and is painted with
dripping pedal steel guitar, but is otherwise fairly in line with
Mattei’s poetic songwriting of the past.

The
band will perform from 1-3 p.m. The Tempers — who will release two more
themed albums later this year — finally have an official website, with
previous releases, show info, videos and more: mmattei.com/TheTempers.

• Cincy Folk Pop faves Shiny and the Spoon celebrate their new, limited-edition EP, Someday,
Saturday at Newport’s Southgate House Revival. Brad Schnittger of The
Sundresses and Columbus’ Angela Perley and the Howlin’ Moons open things
up at 9 p.m. Tickets are $8 in advance (through TicketFly.com) or $10
at the door.

Here's the EP track "Someday Love":

&lt;a href="http://shinyandthespoon.bandcamp.com/track/someday-love"&gt;Someday Love by Shiny and the Spoon&lt;/a&gt;

The EP is a teaser for S&tS’s next full-length, Box of Bullets,
the release date of which will be announced at Saturday’s show. The EP
features a pair of songs from the new album, plus two songs exclusive to
the EP. Hard copies of Someday will be available at Saturday’s show for a donation; download cards will be given away for free. (shinyandthespoon.com)

More Local Notes

• The sixth annual Northside Music
Festivalreturns to Northside Tavern this Saturday. Running from 7
p.m.-2 a.m., the fest again showcases local performers (and the
occasional touring act) from varying genres on three stages (the back
room, front room and an outdoor patio stage).

Performing at this year’s NMF on the
patio stage are Little Lights, The Harlequins, DAAP Girls and You,
You’re Awesome. On the stage in the Tavern’s front room (with music
starting at 8:30 p.m.), catch Josh Eagle, The Great Depression,
Louisville’s Joan Shelley and Daniel Martin Moore. Music on the club’s
larger back room stage begins at 9:30 p.m. with newcomers New Tongues,
followed by Ohio Knife, The Guitars and Detroit rockers The Sights. The
Northside Music Festival is a free event. Below are set times (subject to changes) for Saturday's NMF:

• The latest installment of local
singer/songwriter Kelly Thomas’ Sacred Harp Sessions — an audio/video
project featuring Thomas talking about some of her influences and
performing/recording songs with some of her favorite area musicians — is
a collaboration with Cincy rockers Switchblade Syndicate on a
pumped-up, soul-dripping version of the Everly Brothers classic, “All I
Have to Do is Dream.” The accompanying video for this month’s song (the
fifth in the ongoing project) was filmed at the American Sign Museum
(signmuseum.org) in Camp Washington.

This Sunday at 5:30 p.m., Thomas’ Tammy
WhyNots and Switchblade Syndicate perform at a download release party at
the museum. Admission is $5 (kids get in free) and the first 100 people
in get a free download of “Dream.”

Take a peek at all five Sacred Harp
Sessions (featuring collaborations with Arlo McKinley, Ricky Nye, The
Mudpies and Jeremy Pinnell and the 55s) right here on kellythomasonline.com.